The increase in the number of people seeking asylum in this State is astonishing. In the first two weeks of this month the Department of Justice registered 166 asylum seekers - equivalent to the combined total recorded in the whole of 1990, 1991 and 1992. It appears that the number seeking asylum has increased by well in excess of one thousand per cent in the past three years. And there are a further 2,000 applications pending with the Department of Justice.
All of this has provoked a great deal of hue and cry. The Department of Justice has asked the Garda to increase surveillance at ports in order to stem the flow. The Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Ms Joan Burton, is "very worried" that scrupulous agents are targeting Ireland as an easy country into which to smuggle people. The Progressive Democrats are concerned about the financial implications the annual cost to the Irish taxpayer of 100 asylum seekers is estimated to be £500,000, according to their spokesperson on justice, Ms Liz O'Donnell.
Some of these concerns are clearly well grounded. No sensible person would make a case for a carte blanche approach towards all asylum seekers. The increase in their number has added to the burden on community and welfare services. And there must be concern that the Department of Justice bureaucracy housed in what is still quaintly called the Aliens Office is simply not equipped to deal with the surge in asylum seekers.
That said, there is a need to keep a sense of proportion about the supposed immigration problem. The State is not about to be overrun by a tidal wave of foreigners who will undermine the daily fabric of our lives. Compared to any of our EU partners, we are dealing with scarcely more than a trickle of immigration. Ireland still has fewer far fewer asylum seekers than most other European countries. If nothing else, the current phenomenon only serves to underline how we have conspicuously failed to take our fair share of refugees and asylum seekers in the past. There is every reason to believe that the flow of asylum seekers will continue to increase; Ireland's high profile image as a relatively wealthy state and President Robinson's leading voice in the international debate on human rights will increasingly draw the poor and the displaced from other states. Ireland enjoys a strong and enviable reputation for its commitment to human rights; we can hardly be surprised that those who are denied these rights in their homeland should seek refuge among us.
This State, indeed no state, can afford to provide refuge for every economic migrant that arrives on the doorstep. But it is important that our approach towards those who seek to live with us is conducted in a humane and compassionate way. In fairness, it must be said that the widely praised 1996 Refugee Act is both sensible and compassionate in its terms. This State should never be unduly harsh with immigrants; it is not so long ago that the Irish themselves were seeking succour and support at ports and airports in America, Australia and in Britain.